Son of Holmes (Auguste Lupa) [Hardcover]

John Lescroart (Author)

Book Description

Series: Auguste Lupa | Publication Date: April 10, 1986

The “reliably excellent” John Lescroart (Publishers Weekly), acclaimed author of the bestselling novels featuring attorney Dismas Hardy, here offers a rich and engrossing historical mystery that takes us to a small French town in the dark days of World War I and introduces us to Auguste Lupa. The rumor is that he is the son of the greatest detective of all time. And the truth of his mysterious legacy may come to light as he attempts to solve the baffling murder of an intelligence agent and uncover an ingenious act of sabotage.... “Raymond Chandler once wrote that the test of a first-rate murder mystery is whether you would keep reading it if the last chapter — and the revelation of whodunit — were missing. In the matter of John Lescroart, I would keep reading any of his books, even without that last chapter.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram “A gifted writer with a distinctive voice. I read him with great pleasure.” —Richard North Patterson “[A] master yarn spinner.” —Booklist

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1915 Auguste Lupa, a mysterious 25-year-old chef, is asked to join the weekly homemade-beer-and-conversation sessions of undercover French spy Jules Giraud, who is on the trail of a master German saboteur with designs on the nearby armory in St. Etienne. At Lupa's first meeting with Giraud's group, a member is killed with poisoned beer. Convinced that this murder is the work of the German spy, Giraud enlists Lupa in finding the culprit. An attempt is made on Lupa's life, the armory is blown up, and the probity of the chef himself is questioned by the police before he brings all the suspects together for a confrontation and unmasking. Detection fans will probably spot the villain early in this medium-weight puzzler. But they will lap up the details of Lupa's possible heritage, and with his brilliance, devotion to food, flowers, books, beer and the color yellow, it's soon plain that the chef is really the young Nero Wolfe. It has been suggested before that Wolfe was Sherlock Holmes's son, and this will be all the delicious "proof" that Wolfe fans need. Lescroart's first novel was Sunburn.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

John Lescroart is the bestselling author of eighteen previous novels, which have sold more than ten million copies. He lives with his family in Northern California. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 223 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (April 10, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0917657640
• ISBN-13: 978-0917657641
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,034,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't think Conan Doyle, think Rex Stout, April 3, 2007

By 

Dennis W. Bray "Brayman" (Sanford, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Son of Holmes (Auguste Lupa) (Paperback)

Other reviewers have not fully enjoyed this book because they are looking for satisfaction as a post Holmes story. It is more an early Nero Wolfe story - "Auguste Lupa" is the backstory referred to by Nero Wolfe in several of the Rex Stout novels. Here he is young and fit, not yet corpulent but displaying his trademark love of food, beer and horticulture. The cook, Fritz Benet is obviously the WWI identity of Fritz Brenner, Nero Wolfe's chef and housekeeper.

There are many treats here for Rex Stout fans - Auguste Lupa's designing a remote signaling device to have beer fetched to him, his mistrust of women, using an intelligent legman to gather facts for him to decipher and of course gathering all the players for the unmasking of the criminal.

As a standalone mystery it would be only a couple of stars, but as biographical fodder for Nero Wolfe, it is "very satisfactory".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing for Lescroart or Holmes Fans, September 19, 2007

By 

Booklover "Librarian" (La Habra, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of Holmes (Auguste Lupa) (Paperback)

I have to agree with the reader who found this novel trite and dull. I got very very tired of hearing about nothing but beer in every other sentence. I did slog on to the bitter end, but expected so much more of Lescroart, as other novels I have read were engrossing and fairly literate. I picked this book up because my husband is a die-hard Holmes fan. I told him not to bother. Reading this would just make him angry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars boring waste of time, September 1, 2006

By 

E. T. Ashworth "tompaine47" (Richmond, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of Holmes (Auguste Lupa) (Paperback)

Really. Don't bother. I'm half through, there's been one murder, and I still can't stop wondering when something is going to happen -- other than everyone walking around town, drinking beer. This guy gets paid for writing????